Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

  • Newsarama Interview With James Ohlen

    In an interview via Newsarama, James Ohlen discusses the reasons behind the lack of a Star Wars: The Old Republic release date, details companion customization, and gives a behind the scenes take on the early production of the game.

    We don't want to give a specific release date until we're absolutely certain that when we launch the game it'll be a smooth launch and a bug-free experience. It would be terrible if we released and the servers fell down or there was a bug that detracted from the overall experience. It'd be terrible for Star Wars fans, they'd be really sad, cause they're excited about it as shown by the pre-order numbers, and it'd be disappointing for team members. People like myself, I've been on this project for six years. I want it to live up to the expectations.

    For more be sure to check out the full interview at Newsarama.

  • SWTOR Available for Pre-Order Now



    At approximately 10pm PT, several sites including MMORPG.com, WoWWiki.com, WoWHead.com, etc. all sported new ads for Star Wars: The Old Republic pre-orders. Each ad had the same identifierand lead to a dead page on SWTOR.com. Pre-orders became available shortly after midnight via the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website and various retailers.

    Pre-Order Options:

    • Star Wars: The Old Republic Collector's Edition ($149.99) - Pre-Order Exclusive: Early Game access, Color Stone (virtual item), 30 Days Game Time included Limited Collector's Edition Includes: Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue, Game disks collectible metal case, The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural as annotated by Satele Shan, The Old Republic galaxy map, Custom Security Authentication Key, Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD, High-quality Collector's Edition box.
      Includes 7 Additional Digital Items: Flare Gun, Training Droid, HoloDancer, HoloCam, STAP, Exclusive Mouse Droid, Exclusive Collector's Edition Store

    • Star Wars: The Old Republic Digital Deluxe Edition ($79.99) - Pre-Order Exclusive: Early Game access, Color Stone (virtual item), 30 Days Game Time included. Includes 5 Additional Digital Items: Flare Gun, Training Droid, HoloDancer, HoloCam, STAP.

    • Star Wars: The Old Republic Standard Edition (Digital & Physical) ($59.99) - Pre-Order Exclusive: Early Game access, Color Stone (virtual item), 30 Days Game Time included.


    Minimum System Requirements:

    • OS - Windows XP, Vista/7

    • CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4000+ or better Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 2.0GHz or better

    • RAM - Windows XP: 1.5GB Windows Vista and Windows 7: 2GB PCs using a built-in graphical chipset, 2GB RAM recommended.

    • Video - ATI X1800 or better* nVidia 7800 or better* Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or better*

    • DVD-ROM - 8x or better *Minimum of 256MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better support.


    Make sure to take a look at the FAQ. Official DevTracker post follows the jump.

    Update: Electronic Arts detailed "Beta Test Weekends" in a press release.

  • Release Date Window Moved After July 1st?

    Today Eric Brown, CFO of Electronic Arts, spoke at the Lazard Capital Markets Technology & Media Conference. The topic of Star Wars: The Old Republic was once again brought up and one of the many interesting things said by Brown was, "So we said it's going to launch sometime in calendar, but not within Fiscal '11. So that basically pens down between you know, April 1st and December 31st of this calendar year. It is also reasonable to infer that it's not in our Q1 guidance. We gave Q1 Fiscal 11, Fiscal 12 non-GAAP revenue guidance, minus 39 minus 44 cents and I think it's not unreasonable to infer that it's not included in that 90 day period."

    This indicates that the game most likely won't release before the 1st of July.

    Brown also talks about moving from a closed beta, to a semi-closed beta and then eventually to an open beta and then says that EA will talk more about Star Wars at E3, which takes place June 7-9th. Transcription follows after the jump. An audio version of the talk is contained on their website.

  • EA's Eric Brown at UBS Media and Communications Conference

    Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown's presentation at the UBS 38th Annual Media and Communications Conference reaffirmed CY2011 for Star Wars: The Old Republic. It was also mentioned that SWTOR "...will generate revenue through monthly subscriptions" while speaking on the subscription model. Speaking on availability of options on purchasing, Eric Brown stated that the game's PC client will be available in both a retail packaged format and digital download format. Eric Brown also described The Old Republic as a ten year opportunity for EA.

    Eric Brown's presentation lasted about 40 minutes and is now over. As of this moment this appears to be all of the new information relating to The Old Republic that came out of the presentation.

    Last Updated: 11:45 AM PT. Klipto and Bjbrains contributed to this article.

  • EA Reaffirms 2011 Release For SWTOR

    Electronic Arts CFO Eric Brown today reaffirmed Star Wars: The Old Republic will release in calendar year 2011 / ERTS financial year 2012 in a presentation at the Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference. Brown mentioned this is the first time that they officially stated the highly anticipated MMORPG will ship in calendar year 2011.

  • Hint of Star Wars: The Old Republic Release Date?

    Earlier today, Electronics Arts updated their outlook for fiscal year 2010 with a press release and a conference call. The majority of the call dealt specifically with the slew of titles releasing this spring, however, a bit of Star Wars: The Old Republic news found it's way into the Q&A section at the end. After being asked about their lower expectations for 2010, EA CEO John Riccitiello said the following:

    A couple other thoughts on fiscal '11 that I think might be helpful. We are very cognizant of a need to drive growth margins and operating margins, and some of our distribution businesses have provided us luxury profitability that we like. So for now at least we are planning our distribution businesses to be sharply down in fiscal '11.

    On the digital side, while we've got a great number of initiatives, one key driver will be the launch of our major MMO. As it stands today, the game is making great progress towards a spring 2011 launch. But given the volatility of this particular sector, and the fact that we haven't yet provided a specific launch date, at least for now, we're excluding the revenue from our FY'11 plan for guidance.


    With no other known "major MMO" in development, this can be interpreted to mean that they are working towards a Spring 2011 launch date for Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, a fiscal conference call is an unlikely venue for an announcement of this gravity, and this comment is bracketed by talk of fiscal year 2011, which is predominately calendar 2010.

    We contacted LucasArts and BioWare for an official comment, and we will keep you updated with any developments.

    Update (Jan 12 - 11:09 AM EST): Sean posted an update just minutes ago regarding the news -

    While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We've got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It's not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can't wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

  • EA Earnings Confrence Call Mentions TOR

    For those of you who may not listen to the podcast, but should, EA had their Q2 2010 earnings conference call on November 9th. The vast majority of the conference call was directed at the recent acquisition of the social gaming developer Playfish, but it did contain a few gems relating to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Lets take a closer look at the relevant pieces of the call.
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